The cannabinoid CBD may hold the key to help cigarette smokers give up smoking, according to new research.

Using CBD can completely disable some of the fundamental triggers for relapse in smokers who have just quit – like cues that they strongly associate with smoking cigarettes, such as friends who also smoke and familiar smoking settings.

The study, recently published in the journal Addiction, built upon prior research that found cigarette smokers who used a CBD inhaler whenever they felt like it cut their cigarette consumption by 40 percent during a one week period. However, it should be noted that this study used a relatively small sample size and experts feel a bigger sample size is necessary to confirm study results.

There is still significant hope that CBD could play a huge role in an effective way to quit smoking, with addiction treatment coming in the next five years.

“These findings suggest that cannabidiol has promise as a novel treatment for tobacco addiction,” said Dr. Tom Freeman, Senior Academic Fellow at King’s College London, who worked on the study with UCL researchers. “It might be particularly effective when abstinent smokers are exposed to cues that trigger relapse, such as when they are with a friend who lights a cigarette, or in a particular place they associate with smoking.These findings suggest that cannabidiol has promise as a treatment for tobacco addiction.”

More experts are also hopeful of CBD’s effectiveness to treat tobacco addiction.

“Taken together, these studies suggest CBD could play a key role in helping people to give up smoking,” said Professor Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at the Mount Sinai hospital network in New York.

One detail researchers have pointed out is that CBD did not necessarily reduce cravings or withdrawal symptoms in smokers in the experiments, both of which are key drivers of relapse.